Help with Muulti-monitor setup please

[Horrgakx]

Hi all - I'm struggling with my monitor setup and would appreciate some advice if anyone can help please...

I have 2x Asus monitors (32" 3440x1440 and 27" 2560x1440) connected via DisplayPort to my GTX980.
I also have an Onkyo amplified connected to the graphics card in order to provide 5.1 audio (I don't use this for a video signal).

The issue is that Windows thinks the Onkyo is another monitor but I don't want my desktop extended to it because as I said I'm using it for audio only and as you'll see from the screenshot below I have an empty space off to the side of my desktop. If I go into the desktop settings and try to clone the Onkyo amp to one of the other monitors then the other monitors take on the lower resolution of the Onkyo amp. Grrrr!!!!

(EDIT) - Of course some of my icons have now disappeared onto the 'other' monitor which I can't see 😞



PC Spec;
• Windows Professional 10 64Bit
• Intel i7-5820K Haswell-E (3.30GHZ, 15MB L3 CACHE)
• Nvidia GTX 980 4GB Extreme
• MSI X99S SLI Plus Motherboard
• 32GB Crucial (4 x 8GB) 2133Mhz DDR4
• 240GB SATA III Ultrafast SSD
• ASUS ROG SWIFT Curved PG348Q, 34" UWQHD (3440x1440) Gaming monitor, IPS, up to 100Hz, DP, HDMI, USB3.0 , G-SYNC
• Second monitor - ROG Swift PG278Q Gaming Monitor - 27'' 2K WQHD (2560 x 1440), 1ms, up to 144Hz, G-SYNC
• Audio – Onkyo TX-SR605 5.1 AV amp

[Crashcourse316]

ok well you might have tried this but if you uncheck the onkyo "monitor" in multi-monitor setup section can you still go to the digital Audio setup in the nvidia control panel and have the audio for that turned on?

I haven't actually attempted this myself before so i'm not sure if you can disable the video while enabling the audio. that would be what I would try though.

[xeromist]

I would probably change to optical SPDIF to avoid this issue.

[Horrgakx]

Thanks for your replies.

If I uncheck the monitor it turns off the audio also.

Not tried the SPDIF thing, I've never used it before, might have to do some digging.

[Horrgakx]

The graphics card doesn't have an optical out. The motherboard does however so I just need to enable it somehow.

[xeromist]

Horrgakx wrote:
The graphics card doesn't have an optical out. The motherboard does however so I just need to enable it somehow.

It's not hard in Windows. You right-click on the tray speaker icon and select playback devices. From there you can choose which audio device to use as an output.

[Crashcourse316]

xeromist wrote:
It's not hard in Windows. You right-click on the tray speaker icon and select playback devices. From there you can choose which audio device to use as an output.

If the HDMI output is enabled it picks up another monitor, at this point you can still use windows to set the audio out to the port wanted but you get the unwanted false monitor. If you disable the false monitor display setting, The audio output to the disabled false monitor will also not be available. While you could take a shot at testing this I don't think this will get you anywhere.

[Crashcourse316]

xeromist wrote:
It's not hard in Windows. You right-click on the tray speaker icon and select playback devices. From there you can choose which audio device to use as an output.

If you don't see the Optical out listed, right click in the playback device windows and select "show disabled Devices" and "show disconnected" if they aren't already checked.

[Horrgakx]

xeromist wrote:
I would probably change to optical SPDIF to avoid this issue.

I bought an optical cable and tried it but couldn't get anything through at all - the amp just did nothing.

[xeromist]

Horrgakx wrote:
I bought an optical cable and tried it but couldn't get anything through at all - the amp just did nothing.

Could be a lot of things. First ensure that the cable is fully seated. It should lightly snap into the port. You will need to select the proper playback device in Windows. Make sure to choose the digital output and not the normal output or HDMI. Windows 10 will only output one at a time. If the cable is seated and active you should see a pinpoint of red light visible on the opposite end of the cable.

As an Onkyo owner myself I know you also need to make sure that the optical connection is assigned to the input you are selecting. Consult the receiver manual on how to ensure this is the case.